Chinese WOW players speak out

Chinese World of Warcraft players are being discriminated against by English speakers who assume they're all gold-farmers, according to reports on Chinese-language website Tales of Warcraft.

More than 7,000 posters on the site's forum claim they have fallen victim to the problem, which is said to occur when Chinese players attempt to join groups. Apparently there is a common belief among English speaking players that most non-English speakers are gold farmers and are only playing for commercial gain.

As a result, players are asking anyone who wants to join a group to type one or two sentences in English. If the sentences contain spelling or grammar mistakes, the player is rejected. Since you have to join groups to complete certain quests in WOW, this is presenting many Chinese players with a serious problem.

Mark MacKay, owner of the WOW Gold Price List website, has condemned this practice in a statement which reads: "Over over 1.5 million World of Warcraft players are from China alone, with the majority of these players being non-English. While their has been recent publicity about the gold farm factories in China, it by no means justifies thinking that every Chinese or non-English speaking player is a gold farmer."

MacKay doesn't have an instant solution to the problem, but says that English-speaking WOW players should "Keep a more open mind and trust people a little more.

"This would go a long way to bringing some racial harmony to World of Warcraft and the world in general."

Ellie spent nearly a decade working at Eurogamer, specialising in hard-hitting executive interviews and nob jokes. These days she does a comedy show and podcast. She pops back now and again to write the odd article and steal our biscuits.